Random Spring Pics

Ashton had a cub scout activity that I absolutely loved!  As a kid our ward did this same competition calling it a Men's Cake Bake for all the men and boys in the ward to participate in.  The cub scout each made a cake to contend with.  They received various awards like Most Creative, Best Use of Chocolate, Most Colorful, etc.  Ashton won Best Use of Chocolate!

Jeep muddin'!

Yes, of course, Ashton had guidance from both Todd and I.  But he did most of the work.

Caught these two cuddling/napping one evening.  Precious little buddies!

Ashton's third grade class did an egg drop experiment/contest to see who could sufficiently protect a raw egg inside of a 2 liter pop bottle to survive being dropped off the top of the school.  Ashton's egg sat in a nice rubber band bungie chair suspended by more rubber bands in the center of his bottle by tooth picks poking through the walls of the bottle.  Then it was cushioned throughout with cotton balls and a little bubble packaging.  The egg survived!  And following the theme of white puffy cotton balls, he made it look like Olaf from the movie, "Frozen".  This is a pic taken after the fact, so it help up well!

In February my friend, Lisa approached me about helping her CrossFit gym out.  The gym has been in our community for a couple of years now, owned by two families.  Both families are our friends.  Lisa and her husband were more silent owners while the other family did all the coaching.  There was some sort of falling out, and upon selling out their portion, the other owners walked away with all of the coaches.  This left the gym members needing new coaches A.S.A.P.

I had just come back home from Alaska the day before and felt immediate stress at the idea of adding more to my plate.  Especially not knowing when I would need to be of help to my family again.   I wasn't really interested in working or doing more coaching than I already do for my friends.  But I also have friends who attend this CrossFit gym and felt bad for them and for Lisa and her situation.  Where both original owners were my friends, I was leary of getting in the middle of anything sticky.  I said I would think about it and tossed and turned over the idea for two nights. Ultimately, I accepted to help for the following 5 weeks until the next CrossFit Certification course in Boise would occur so that some of their current members could become certified and take over the coaching.  Two of my sister-in-laws were recently certified a few months prior and they chose to help as well. 

This all happened during the 5 weeks of the CrossFit Opens competition.  (This is a competition that sifts athletes out to then move on to the Regionals competions, which qualifies the few who make it to compete at the CrossFit games, sort of a world Olympics for overall fitness.)  Because each person competing has to do the competition workouts with their own individual certified judge, I took the online certification judges course to help in that way.  I participated judging in several pot luck parties at the gym where the workouts were announced worldwide via live TV and then the competitors of our gym did the judged workouts for the crowd.

It was a lot of fun to be in that size of a CrossFit community for that long.  I have visited many CrossFit gyms in my travels, but was never a long term member anywhere except my experience at my old neighbor's garage gym.  I went there for two years and they were my CrossFit family, but it was a very small family of 4! 

I really loved being at this gym, but also struggled with the time cutting up my day.  I didn't get much done back home.  I'm just not that organized, I guess.  And as much as I love CrossFit, I have not been able to participate in the workouts for so long that I feel funny about being a representative of it now.  It's different with my friends.  Outside their close friendship... it feels hypocritical. 

If my health would allow, I would still thrash weights around every dang day.  I miss it more than I could ever express.  It is my personality to the core to broaden my limits and be strong.  I miss feeling capable and powerful, ready for anything.  I miss fitting those tiny clothes and feeling confident and just... sturdy!  I feel so fragile now.  And for that, it was actually somewhat harmful for me to be there any longer.  It made me really sad.  To have been at the level of health and strength I've experienced and have all the knowledge and discipline necessary to have world class fitness and yet be forced to sit on the sidelines for years... It made me kind of hard on myself.  I've been through so much, physically, in the past 3 years.  More than I let on.  I can't risk losing any more health than I already have by pushing myself to participate and fit it.  It's the strangest thing to have fallen so hard for this underground, unheard of fitness program, to have taught it to the community, spreading the word about what turns housewives into tigers, and now EVERYONE I know does CrossFit....  except ME.  I pioneered it here.  It kills me to sit that identity out now. 

I made a lot of friends at the gym and even helped several athletes break barriers in their fitness or learn things they hadn't ever been taught.  They were not happy with my choice to leave.  I'll miss them.  But back to routine and reality, I went.

But not without a new shirt!

These were pictures taken at a party Brielle hosted.  I was asking them to show me what the "Whip and Ney Ney" is because I'm lame and apparently have completely missed a huge cultural icon of a song and dance.  Woops!

Dancing led to breakdancing...

Dress up day for Dr. Suess' birthday. That Halloween wig was sure handy!  We bought the last "blue hair root touchup powder at Sally's for Ashton's hair.  All their blue spray on color was already sold out!  There were lots of blue-topped heads at school that day!!!!

Lainey, reading me a story. 

She is such a fantastic reader now!  She LOVES to read.

Park City CrossFit Recertification With Maurny

In mid-March my friend Maurny and I drove to Park City together.  This was a trip for me to attend another CrossFit certification since mine was about to expire (they last 5 years) and they are much cheaper to attend as a renewal before they expire than after.  Todd was out of town that weekend for work.  So Maurny was sweet and agreed to accompany me and find things to do during the day while I was at the cert.  In the evenings we went to dinner and soaked in the hot tub or watched TV in the hotel room.  It was so much fun having all that conversation time with her driving there and back.  I just love her.  She is one dang good woman and such a treasured friend.

The certification was at CrossFit Park City, which is owned by one of my favorite CrossFit athletes, Christ Spealer.  This is also where Todd earned his CrossFit certification.  They were patient with my limitations.  I had both my local nutritionist at the health foods store and my Dr give me things to help with energy and recovery so I could sustain the rigor of this cert.  It's a lot of body weight repetition as you practice lifts with a pvc pipe.  And each class ended with a workout, also (thankfully) completely modifiable.  When they asked at the beginning if anyone had any injuries they should be aware of, it was embarrassing to have to list off 6 or 7 of them and then disclaim the truth that none of them were CrossFit related for fear of inevitable judgement!  I never had to completely sit anything out which was a relief.  But the adrenaline wore off when I got home and I crashed for almost 3 weeks.

One of the Park City evenings we drove up to the Montage Resort to see my brother there preforming in the commons.  The picture is way too dark.  We listened for a while and gave Scott a hug and a tip and left.

Salt Lake to See Mom and Dad

The day after flying home to Boise, we took the kids to Salt Lake to see Grandma and Grandpa.  Mom was already significantly smaller.  She lost over 26 pounds in 25 days.  She was always very uncomfortable, just in a lot of pain.  She ate the tiniest portions since she couldn't digest food very well.  She spent the day lying down or curled up on the couch.  This made her very sore and stiff, so she would use the recumbent bike in Devan's club house as many days as she could until the Dr. told her not to.  Weight loss was her biggest enemy now.

We were there on Valentine's Day.  Dad and I both had the same thing in mind and bought the kids heart cookies and frosting to decorate them with.

Brielle's Basketball Season

To Alaska

Well off to Alaska I went, unsure how long I would be there. We were waiting on the medical system so I knew it could certainly be more than a few days.  Mom needed scans, stents operations, cauterizations, and likely chemotherapy.  It was a waiting game.  Would they need to stay in SLC for chemo and would that mean April would need to withdraw from school and attend in SLC?  Should they find an apartment in SLC?  Would Alaska's chemo be administered with the same chemical and same expertise as the Huntsman's?  I hated not knowing.  Waiting is not my favorite.  Especially with matters such as these.  These were some of the memes going around our family text chain:

I landed in Anchorage at about 3:30am and checked into the closest hotel to the airport so I could sleep. 

Levi flew out just before I landed and left mom's Prius in the parking garage for me with "vivid" instructions.

In the late morning I grabbed breakfast at the Anchorage IHOP restaurant then drive to Seward when April's Cross Country team had traveled to for her race that weekend.  I had booked a hotel room there while at the airport.  As I went to check in I realized I had left my debit card, the only card I use, at the IHOP several hours away.  Thankfully, I remembered that my close friends who do CrossFit here had given me a thoughtful card before I left with cash they had collected amongst themselves to help out in some way while with April in Alaska.  They seriously spoiled me.  It was more than enough for the hotel and I was saved!  I ate dinner with April's team- they just happened to be eating at a pizza joint right across the street from my hotel!  April was given permission to come to my hotel for a bit so that we could skype with Mom and Dad. 


Doll Sheep on the drive to Seward.

 April's race

Saw this on my drive back (Mom's name).

Our amazing friends, the Cox's/Pettijohns took us in several times and made sure we were OK.  So did a slew of other wonderful friends in Alaska.  I rarely had to cook for April and I up there.  This a photo of game night at the Cox's. 

Elders that knew my nephew in law who had recently served in my parents' ward.

April's choir concert.  She's so talented doing band and choir.  She is a percussionist and played the bongo while singing.  This was a rough night for a lot of people.  Mom was the new president of the booster club and this dinner concert fundraiser was something she had planned and worked very hard for.  By this point it had been confirmed that Mom had stage 2 Pancreatic Cancer.  In regular Western Medicine fashion, she was lied to because it's "too hard" to tell people the truth when they have stage 4 cancer.  April and I sang a duet together while I played on piano, "Say Something".  It was a tear jerker for those in the room who knew Mom as it related.

April taking a break from setting up the dinner tables.

April's choir

 April and I's song.

Back at home Todd was a trooper.  I love him so much for all his positive attitude taking on Mr. Mom for what ended up being over 3 weeks.  These are busy kids and he's busy besides what they have going on.  Family and friends kept him fed as well.  My sister in laws took turns having the kids ride the bus to their homes after school to make sure they did homework, practiced piano, read books, etc.  The kids enjoyed all the cousin time.  Todd kept the house clean and gave the kids fun things to do too.  They went skiing, went to a movie, went mudding in the jeep.

I missed my children SO much.  And my sweet husband.  It was so hard to be gone so long.  I knew I was needed where I was but I still felt guilty being gone that long.

While I was in Alaska, there was an Earthquake off the coast of Alaska.  It was around a 7.4 at the epicenter.  Not quite so bad where I was.  However, being a night owl, I was awake at around 1:00am when it happened.  I thought someone was breaking into the house because of the banging noises!  The rocking of the house and creaking of furniture sounded like slamming doors and pounding to me.  The dogs, even the shy one, quickly hid with me under the kitchen table.  It was shortlived while everything swayed.  Nothing in the house was vulnerably placed to be damaged by an earthquake so there wasn't anything broken.  I rushed downstairs to check on April and she was fast asleep!  Jessica, the friend next door texted asking me if I had felt it.  We chatted back and forth about possible aftershocks and how crazy it all was!  Because of the earthquake, Dad asked me to check on the cabin still under construction.  This is something I had delayed subconsciously, I think.

The cabin is Mom's dream.  While Dad was working as a contracted air traffic controller in Afghanistan, Mom found this property for sale in Sutton, Alaska.  It sat atop a cliff overlooking Granite Creek with views of Granite Peak and all the beautiful landscape in between.  She picked out the cabin design and had plans for all the amenities.  It was her baby.  And she may never see it finished or even sleep inside it.

I drove the 45 minute drive to Sutton, heavy hearted.

 The long dirt drive was too snowed over and icy to drive.  So I parked the Prius at the start of the dirt road and walked the rest of the way.  My heart hurt more and more with every step and when this came into view, I lost it and fell to my knees.  So much love and teamwork, sweat and dreams put into this place. So much of her in it.  To my emotions, I think it represented my family.  The picture perfect harmony and peace I always felt about my family.

Todd sent this picture of Lainey's Martin Luther King day paper.  *LOVE*

April's Birthday came and Mom and Dad were still gone.  Still not sure when they would return or what the plan was.  I felt sad for April that Mom wouldn't be there because she was also not there last year.  Mom was on a trip last year during April's birthday.  I wanted to make it special still for her.  I taped garbage bags to her door at night and filled the center with balloons. 

I made cupcakes for her choir class and brought them in to her.

For her big day I took her shopping.  I showed her one of my favorite shops- Plato's Closet.  And then to Sephora to get her makeup.

And a boy brought her a present...

Same boy also took her on her first date that weekend...

I was able to purchase a guest pass for the Alaska Club, the local gym that allowed me to workout while there.  While April was in school, I would clean the house, go to the gym, workout and use the sauna there, get ready for the day there, get some groceries while in town, etc.  I didn't like being home alone long.  With April's ski practice after school, days were long at home!

Some moose outside the gym.

 Back at Devan's house in Salt Lake City, Capri kept Mom and Dad entertained.  Maura did a great job caring for and feeding them.  She had to experiment a lot with what food Mom could handle.  She suffered a lot of pain while there because the hospital never did very much to manage it.  Hospice nurses are the leading experts on managing pain.  So we come from a very critical background owning a hospice.  But still, they didn't even tell them about palliative care- we had to tell them to ask about it.

 I suggested this TV series to Mom since she was down all day and she immediately fell in love with it.  I had to pause this scene to take a picture because he looked just like those angry cat memes.

April's first date was also a way to get her to her surprise birthday party.  Well, away to get her out of the house and back later so her friends could decorate for it since it was at home.  I picked up the cake and the friends did the rest.

Back home Lainey was sick and missing her mommy too much.  It was more than I could stand.  So Rachele, who had been wanting to come and help anyway, flew up to take a turn.  We three sisters were all together a day and a half before I flew out.  We went for a girls night, to dinner at Evangelos, and to a chick flick at the theater.  Rachele and I also got a lot done cleaning what was left in Mom and Dad's room and guest room to make them look nice.  Before she had come, I shampooed Mom's car, and had a cleaning company come in and white glove clean the house so that it was free of any germs that could harm Mom in her state.

At the airport with my sisters!  Love them!